On a quiet night in Stockholm a high-ranking police oficer is slaughtered in his hospital bed, brutally massacred with a bayonet. As Detective Inspector Martin Beck and his colleagues scour the city for the deadly refleman, they uncover the victim`s own unsavoury history of brutality and force. Indeed, their down to one last name. As the tension builds and a feeling of impending danger and doom settle, Martin Beck is forced into taking drastic steps of his own, leading to shocking disaster.